


In the Distance

by eleni459 (quietcuriosity)



Series: Turbulence and Tranquility: 30 Kisses for Anemone and Dominic [9]
Category: Koukyoushihen Eureka Seven | Eureka seveN (Anime)
Genre: Canon - Manga, Community: 30_kisses, F/M, canon character death, dream state
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-31
Updated: 2009-05-31
Packaged: 2018-06-02 15:58:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6572554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietcuriosity/pseuds/eleni459
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some things are only really clear in the afterglow.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 30_kisses on LJ. The Theme: #09 - Dash

There was much to feel in those dark, hazy moments: the prick of the skin, the surge of liquid into her system, and fierce pain that ached in every corner of her body. And though she had not seen herself before passing out, Anemone knew what the others saw: the wounds, new and old, and whatever of the virus that had managed to meld to her. It wasn’t pretty and, perhaps worse, there was no telling if it would ever come off. The potential permanence bothered her more than anything. When she was physically “pure”, she had easily imagined that she wasn’t who she was and that none of what she had gone through had really happened. One illusion of normalcy allowed her to create another. _But_ , she thought as her mind drifted further away from her body, _I was never really pure_.

The hazy sensation didn’t leave her once she opened her eyes. Cautiously, she pushed herself into a sitting position. She was surprised by how little it hurt to do so. She ran her hands over her arms and gasped when she felt neither scars nor the mutilated remains of her flight suit. She looked down to see her favorite dress. While she knew that she should have been elated, Anemone felt a kind of slow creeping fear settling into her mind. _What is this place?_ she thought as she looked out over the flower-strewn field. It was something closer to what she wanted, but she knew that what she wanted wasn’t in line with her current reality. 

She looked up. She could faintly detect Dominic’s very familiar form on the horizon. She rose onto unsteady legs and ran forward, huffing and stumbling as she tore through the red and white flowers. She only stopped running when she felt his arms encircle her and pull her toward him. For a moment, she could have sworn that she felt his smile against her forehead. “Where are we?”

“It’s here.”

“But…”

“‘Here’ is really all that matters right now,” he explained with a sigh. “The particulars don’t quite matter when this is all you have with which to work.”

“I…I think I understand.” So she let the moment overtake her. She just let him hold her as she breathed him, experiencing him closer and more steadily than she had ever done before. Her arms found their way around him and she felt for the telltale signs of the wounds that she knew he had recently received. His coat was intact and she could not feel any bandages beneath it. “Are you okay?” He nodded. “But you’re not – and I’m not – really okay, right?”

“Not by a long shot.”

“Then what is this place? How can we stay in this place that won’t show us the way things really are?”

“The way things really are won’t make either of us feel better or give us just another moment to be together, much less together happily. And all I have ever wanted,” he said as he took her chin in his hand, “was for you to be happy.”

Something inside of her received his hidden message and tried to wrestle a scream or tears out of her. Instead, she smiled and said, “And all I’ve ever wanted was you.” She closed her eyes and pressed herself forward and met his mouth halfway. Faintly, she could feel the tears stream down her cheeks but she tried to ignore them. That moment, in and of itself, was more important than any of the emotions that would well up after it.

And just as quickly as it began, the moment ended. Her eyes opened suddenly but her vision had blurred. She squinted and barely made out the various bits of machinery that surrounded her. And while her physical body drifted through the haze for a just few more seconds, it quickly wore off and began to feel a dull ache throughout her form. Despite the changes, her one thought remained the same. “Dominic?” she asked faintly. Though she received no explanation, and would not receive one for many days, her tears began to flow freely. She had not needed them to explain what was all too obvious.


End file.
